I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 419

Anna took a deep breath, then interrupted him with an equally radiant smile, "Sure, I have time, as long as you don't mind kissing a mouth that's been used by other men, and accepting that the woman you went through so much trouble to win over used to be with other men every day, changing positions, times, and using expressions and tones you can't even imagine to create a storm of passion..."

The male student's expression changed drastically; he probably never expected Anna to be able to utter such... astonishing lines in one breath.

"Uh... I..."

"Can't accept it, can you?" Anna sneered. "Don't worry, I'm just kidding. Even if you could accept it, I would never agree. I'm just saying this to make scumbags like you who would try to steal someone else's partner as soon as they see a couple arguing jealous."

"..."

"Hmm, I feel better now. I'll wander around for a bit, then go back to find Uncle."

She only showed a little girl's smile when Lin was mentioned.

"Want some?"

Lin asked calmly.

"..."

He looked up at a tree, and after a while, a girl walked out from behind the tree, not expecting that Lin had discovered her.

"Senior Lin, aren't you going to chase after her?" Hun glanced in the direction Anna had left.

"Need not."

"You are..."

"Couple".

"Oh..."

Even though she had already understood it from the conversation, Hun still couldn't help feeling lost.

Lin didn't notice the dejection in the girl's eyes, and picked up the plate to ask again, "Want to eat?"

"Are you alright? Anna, she..."

"... What does it have to do with anything?"

Lin asked back, not quite understanding.

From Lin's tone, Hun seemed to have noticed something. She stared at Lin and the plate in his hand for a few seconds before forcing a smile and saying, "Okay."

It has to be said that Lin's cooking skills are definitely the best among the people I know. He can make a simple skewer of grilled meat both delicious and beautiful. The aroma is irresistible, and the juices fill your mouth with every bite. He is an excellent chef whose talent cannot be seen from his dark appearance.

But the thought that he had originally grilled these skewers for someone else filled him with an indescribable feeling.

Oh, you're too greedy! Senior Penglin was just a stranger to you, yet you approached him with such feelings...

"I don't quite understand how to handle my relationship with her."

"Um?"

Lin's sudden topic caught Hun off guard. She listened as Lin spoke in a rare, confused tone, "I've been alone all my life. She's my first family member, so I don't know how to treat her, when to say what, or how to make her happy... I don't know any of it."

Soul stared blankly and murmured, "No wonder..."

"I thought that was enough to discipline her strictly and treat her the way I treated myself, but she didn't seem to like it." Lin said in a cold yet confused tone, "I don't know... how to reciprocate someone's love."

Lin, who had never had a heart, feelings, or love, thought his peaceful life would be spent in his own uneventful world. But Anna's appearance was like a vibrant splash of color in his black-and-white world.

It left him bewildered.

"Senior Lin, have you never felt love from others?" Hun gave a look of sudden realization mixed with self-deprecation. "Oh, so that's how it is... I wouldn't care or notice..."

"..."

"Then... let me help you."

Hun concealed the meaningless disappointment on her face, and her expression was one that satisfied herself.

Lin looked at the girl, and she met his gaze with a beautiful, rosy expression. "How about I help you practice communicating with girls and handling romantic relationships?"

Lin asked, puzzled, "How do I do it?"

"Well... it's about imagining myself as Anna, and then Lin and I would simulate all sorts of scenarios. I would tell Lin when to say what to make a girl happy."

"A simulated couple?"

Yes, that's right.

Hun nodded with a smile as beautiful as a flower.

Lin pondered the reasoning for a moment and, finding no problem with it, quickly nodded in response. "Okay."

"Alright, let's begin the first training session. Senior Lin, have you ever told Anna 'I love you'?"

"No."

"That..."

Soul gently tilted her head, dappled shadows of the trees dancing across her shoulder.

"Senior Lin, I love you. Can you tell me 'I love you'?"

Special Feature: The Soul of Sorrow (Part 2)

"Girls know in their hearts that they are sometimes being unreasonable. What they need is the other person's attitude rather than actual support."

"Since you know it's unreasonable, why continue?"

"... Senior Lin, that's the problem. You shouldn't ask why, but just answer me 'I know'."

"But aren't you just being unreasonable?"

"..."

It must be said that Lin is quick-witted, but he is unwilling to use it in his interactions with people. He is straightforward and unwilling to back down. What he believes in is one and two. It took Hun a lot of effort to make him understand that this is not a matter of right or wrong or logic, but a matter of mood.

"Okay, let's simulate the scene when Anna left just now."

Soul recalled Anna's tone, then looked at Lin's chin peeking out from under the hood, and his teeth chattered. "I... I'm angry!"

Why are you angry?

"That's not how you answer, Senior Lin."

"..."

Lin Mo paused for a moment, then changed to a more relaxed tone. "That was my question. Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Hmm... it's still a bit stiff, but the direction is right! In short, Senior Lin, when a girl is angry, aside from bottom-line issues, try to agree with her as much as possible, but also maintain your own dignity. Love is an equal relationship, and both parties should give equally in terms of emotional investment. When you're angry, the other person will also try to coax you. If only one person is giving all the time, then it's better to end the relationship as soon as possible."

It's too complicated.

Is interacting with people really this complicated?

Lin memorized everything Hun said, but he still had a question, "What if she says 'Leave her alone'?"

Anna hasn't said anything similar to him yet, but given Anna's traumatic past, Lin is worried that if she says something like that in the future, he might not handle it properly and cause her further harm.

"..." Upon hearing this, Hun's pretty face flushed with a shy blush. She lowered her head slightly, covering her blush with her bangs. "Um... um... my friend told me that if a girl says to ignore her, then you should kiss her hard, bite her lips, lick her tongue, and kiss her until she goes weak all over..."

Lin paused for a moment, then frowned.

Kiss?

He and Anna often kissed, but it was always Anna who initiated the kiss; Lin had never tried to kiss her first.

And what's with getting weak all over from kissing? Is it because of oxygen deficiency?

Lin spread his hands and said frankly, "I don't know how."

"No, no way?! Hasn't Senior Lin ever kissed Anna?"

"Not really," Lin said in a muffled voice, thinking of the bite mark on her collarbone. "But she often made me feel weak and dizzy."

"Ah... is that so..." Hun chuckled dryly, then, as if remembering something, she glanced furtively at Lin's lips a few times, swallowed hard, and tentatively asked, "Then... would you like to... practice..."

The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

What are you even talking about, Soul?! Is your brain rusty?!

The thought of how Lin would look at her next made her want to turn around and run away.

"Lie down."

"Bang!"

Hun was knocked down by a tremendous force, followed by a burning sensation in her ears as if she had been scalded. Amidst the ringing in her ears, she stared blankly at the boy who had tackled her. A hole had been punched through his shoulder, and bright red blood was flowing from the hole.

"What?"

She didn't understand what had happened. Just two seconds ago, Lin was perfectly fine, and then she heard... a gunshot?

My soul felt as if it had been thrown into an ice cellar, and my spine went cold.

"Hide." Lin threw her into the bushes beside him, then immediately got up and, after another gunshot, he dashed through the jungle like a gust of wind.

While on the school bus, Lin noticed that two cars were following behind it, driving all the way from the city to the remote mountains and forests. However, he did not expect that such a thing would happen.

But thinking about it carefully, there are some rich young men and women in the Chienyu Academy. Could it be that they are kidnapping?

Why shoot him and Hun?

Lin glanced at the meat cleaver in his hand.

... Are they considered a threat and wanted to be eliminated immediately? A group of novice kidnappers were so nervous that they even fired guns when they had knives in their hands.

This is truly... thought-provoking!

Lin leaped down from a branch, the knife in his hand reflecting the sunlight, and stabbed at the terrified kidnapper.

The soul, bewildered, trembled in the waist-high grass, its head spinning. A sense of unease settled over it, and the grass seemed to shrink back to its craggy peaks. A chill ran through it, and the grass seemed to shrink back again. The soul, lost and confused, lay trembling in the grass. A sense of desolation crept in, and the grass seemed to shrink back again...

Forest...

Her heart was pounding faster and faster. She dared not peek out, afraid that if she lifted the grass, she would see Lin lying dead on the ground with a gunshot wound to his forehead.

"Alright."

A cold, sharp voice rang out from above her head.

The soul raised its head in bewilderment, only to see light.

A boy with a bloodstain on his cheek stood in the dappled sunlight of the forest, released the blood-stained knife, and gently extended his palm to her.

His dark, restrained pupils resembled ink-colored pearls.

"Are you alright, Soul?"

"Uncle~ I promise I'll never argue with you again..."

Anna stood behind Lin, whose wounds were being treated by a doctor, her eyes filled with tears. Her nose was red, like a tempting cherry.

"... None of your business." Lin shook his head and asked in return, "What about you? Are you alright?"

"Hmm... the other kidnappers ran away after they saw that you had beaten all their accomplices to the ground."

"It's good that you're alright."

Lin talked with Anna for a long time. Anna originally wanted to stay with Lin in the hospital, but Lin ordered her to go back to sleep. She was sure that Binai was very worried about her, so Anna had no choice but to go back to the orphanage.

In a rare moment of silence, Lin lay on the hospital bed staring at the white ceiling. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Aren't you going back to rest?"

Hun walked in timidly from outside. She looked at Lin, who was wrapped in white gauze, and the wound on his shoulder. Facing Lin's gaze, she hesitated for a long time before finally uttering a soft, "This is my family's hospital..."

Lin paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you."

"No, I should be the one saying thank you. If it weren't for Senior Lin, I probably would have been..."

"Don't worry about it, it's just instinct."

"Instinct...?" Soul murmured the word, his expression growing even more somber.

When exactly did they begin to notice this boy who never attracted attention but was actually quite extraordinary?

She always watched him from afar, fantasizing that one day they would meet, but after they actually got to know each other, his love had already been taken away by someone else.

When she stood in an unseen corner, eavesdropping on Lin and Anna's conversation, she couldn't help but put herself in Anna.

That's really... shameless.

A fire burns fiercely within me, a desire to replace someone, to possess someone, to knead, squeeze, and completely embrace them into my own body—